All a Bad Dream
by ToothPasteCanyon
Summary: Dipper's summer memories were erased by the Society of the Blind Eye. Ignorance is bliss, but it's also very dangerous in a town like Gravity Falls.
1. Chapter 1

Mabel gasped in horror as Blind Ivan cocked the memory gun and pointed it in their direction. "End of the line," He growled. "By tomorrow this will all seem like a bad dream."

She took a step back, eyes widening as the gun began to glow. "Say goodbye to your precious memories."

The gun fired, and she saw Dipper hold up his arms and shout "No!" before he was struck by the ray. He stumbled backwards and she raced to catch him.

"Dipper?" Mabel panicked at the sight of her brother's unusually blank expression. "Dipper! Do you remember me?"

Dipper blinked, and murmured, "Hi, Mabel. Are we there yet?"

"What?"

"Gravity Falls. Did the bus stop?"

Mabel shook her head. "You're already in Gravity Falls, Dipper! We've been here for months!"

Dipper's blue hat slipped off his head.

"Don't you remember?"

"Of course he doesn't remember! I just erased it." They looked up at the sound of a hiss of steam. Ivan took out the cylinder containing Dipper's memories, dropped it on the floor and smashed it with his foot. "His entire summer has been forever unseen, and in a few moments so will-"

A piece of pipe dropped on Ivan from above with a clang. Everyone looked up to see McGucket waving at them.

"Ho-ha, that should put that bald fella out for a while! Now we can go and get me memories back!" He stared for another moment at the group. "Eh, did I miss somethin'?"

"Wait…" Dipper frowned, the gears in his head slowly turning. "This… isn't a bus. And who are those people?"

He pointed at Wendy and Soos.

"You don't remember me at all?" Wendy stabbed a finger at herself. "Wendy? I work at your uncle's gift shop? Doesn't that ring a bell?"

"And your buddy Soos! Can I take your blank stare as a yeah? A, a maybe?" Soos's brow furrowed. "Come on, dude…"

"And I'm Old Man McGucket!"

"What are you talking about?" Mabel could see her brother was spiraling into hopeless confusion. "Where's the bus? Mabel, what's going on?"

Before she could respond, there was a groan from one of the Society members lying off to the side. The group suddenly became acutely aware of all the men they had knocked out slowly coming to their senses.

"Dipper, we'll explain everything, I promise." Mabel smiled encouragingly at her brother. "Just… go to sleep, okay?"

Her brother's eyes immediately drooped. "Go to sleep?"

"Yeah! Don't worry, everything's going to be okay." And then, to herself: "Everything's gonna be okay."

* * *

Once Dipper had gone to sleep, he slept heavily. He didn't stir once while they dealt with the Society members, nor while Mabel gently scooped him up and carried him to the car. As she was carrying him she couldn't help but take notice of the blissfully peaceful expression on his face; she hadn't seen him look this relaxed in forever.

This was bad.

Wendy opened the truck door, and Mabel carefully placed her brother across two seats. She buckled both seatbelts across him and sat in the third chair, holding his hat in her hands.

"Hey," Mabel looked up to see Wendy flash her a small smile. "It's gonna be okay. We'll figure something out."

Mabel looked at the hat, and then at her brother. "Yeah... we'll get his memory back. Yeah! How much could one silly little memory gun do to all the awesome summer memories we made together?"

"That's the spirit, hambone!"

"Exactly! We got McGucket's memories back; getting Dipper's will be a cinch."

Soos started the engine. "Dudes, has everyone got their seatbelts on?"

"Somehow, yes!" McGucket shouted from the truck bed.

Mabel quickly bucked her own. "Ready, Soos!"

"Then let's go, back to the Mystery Shack!"

As they took off, Dipper gave a little groan and rolled over, his head brushing against Mabel's leg. Mabel fixed his hat back on his head with a smile. "There. All better!"

It looked a little crooked.

* * *

 **Inspired by 'Maybe It's Better To Forget', by FangirlTrash.**


	2. Chapter 2

On the car ride back, they discussed how they might get Dipper's memory back. Mabel suggested her scrapbook; being a glittery account of almost every day of summer they'd had, it was the perfect substitute for that memory cylinder Ivan had smashed.

Dipper was still sleeping soundly when they pulled up to the Mystery Shack, so Soos, Wendy and Mabel carried him up to the attic. They passed Stan on the way, who looked them once over and declared he didn't even want to know what they'd been up to.

If the scrapbook worked as planned – and Mabel knew it would - he wouldn't have to.

Once he was on the bed, everyone was at a loss of what to do.

"Should we wake him up?" Wendy shook Dipper's shoulder, but it accomplished nothing. "Wow, that memory wipe really did a number on him. What should we do, pour some water on him?"

Mabel tapped her chin. "With water balloons?"

"That's a great idea, hambone!"

"Yeah, this totally won't backfire!"

Ten minutes later, and everyone had come back upstairs loaded with water balloons. Mabel threw one at Dipper, but to her surprise it still didn't wake him up. He was now just sleeping in very wet clothes, on a very wet bed.

"Hmm." Soos started to squeez the water balloon. "This isn't working – ah, I'm all wet! Dudes, I should have expected that."

"Maybe we should just leave him alone?" Wendy suggested. "And move him to your bed, he looks kind of..."

"Wet?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

Soos and Wendy waited around for a little, but as the sun set it became apparent they'd have to go home before he woke up. They left promising Mabel to come back the very first thing in the morning and see how it went.

So Mabel was left alone with her sleeping brother. She entertained herself with looking through her scrapbook, at all the wonderful summer memories she'd had with her brother. She couldn't imagine him not remembering any of it; he probably still did, somewhere, right?

She was suddenly jolted from her thoughts when Waddles bumped up against her legs. "Oh, hello Waddles!"She lifted him up onto the bed and turned him to face her brother. "Look! Dipper's sleeping."

Waddles oinked, then jumped onto Dipper's stomach. Dipper yelped and jerked up as soon as the pig's hooves poked him, and he frowned when Waddles started licking him.

"Waddles!" Mabel quickly picked him up. "Are you okay, bro bro?"

Dipper groaned and began to rub his eyes. "Mabel? I just had the weirdest dream..."

"You did?" She picked up a glass of Mabel Juice. "It wasn't about, like, the entire summer we just had at Gravity Falls so I can tell you it was all real and everything goes back to normal, right?"

"No, actually I was in this stone building- wait, this isn't the bus!" Dipper looked around, frowning. "We're in some sort of bedroom, and there's a pig. Where are we, Mabel?"

"Where are we? Haha, well, I'll tell ya! Have a glass of Mabel Juice!"

"What is this, pink lemonade with toy dinosaurs? Pass." He placed it on the floor, and Waddles immediately knocked it over. "I'd really like to know why there's a pig in here. Or where 'here' is."

He didn't remember Waddles at all? This might take a little more work than she expected, but everything was still okay! "You're at the Mystery Shack! And that's Waddles, my pet pig. Don't you remember?"

Dipper's face was enough of an answer. Mabel sighed.

"Look, would you call me crazy if I told you we've already spent more than half of our summer here, and you got your mind wiped by some weird machine?"

"Yes," He said without hesitation.

"Haha, then you're going to think I'm crazy, but-"

Dipper rolled his eyes. "Come on, Mabel. I'm not going to fall for that. You just didn't wake me up on the bus, you carried me into the Misty Hut-"

"Mystery Shack."

"Yeah, that. And then you decided to pull one of those tricks you always pull on me back at home. But this time, I'm not falling for it!" He looked over at Waddles. "Hmm, though that still doesn't explain the pig."

"It's true!" Mabel brought up her scrapbook. "Look, I can even show you how we got Waddles: there was this time traveller-"

"Really, Mabel. A time traveller."

"Yep! His name was Blendin Blandin and he threatened to go back in time to stop our parents from ever meeting." She tapped her chin. "He never really followed up on that, but I can't help but feel he's going to show up in the next twenty minutes."

"Mabel, this is ridiculous." Dipper stood up and made for the door. "I'm going to go introduce myself to Great Uncle Stan; you know, the guy who's we're living with for the summer."

At that moment there was a shout from downstairs. "Kids, I accidentally shoplifted this green paint from the store along with my usual stolen items, so how do you feel about forging some more money tonight?"

"Or, maybe not." Dipper scratched his head. "That's weird, he says that like he knows us."

"That's because he _does_." Mabel opened up the scrapbook. "Look at all these pages of summer memories! Look at my calendar! You've gotta remember something!"

"Are those... actual photos?"

"Yes!" Mabel then reached under Dipper's bed. "And here's this weird journal you've been obsessed with all summer. You've looked through this thing so much you've gotta at least have some memory of it!"

Dipper flipped through the journal, frowning. "I don't remember anything. You said my mind was wiped by something?"

"Yeah, this memory gun thing."

"This is so... unbelievable. I don't want to believe you, but there's so much not adding up, it almost makes sense." He then frowned. "I still don't know what's going on with this supernatural stuff, though. Seriously, the Lepricorn?"

Mabel fiddled with her hair. "But you can at least think that you might have forgotten the whole summer?"

"Yes, I guess..." Dipper rubbed his forehead.

"Then I'll convince you it's true!" Mabel said. "With all the weird stuff happening in Gravity Falls, that should be easy!"

"Kids?" Grunkle Stan shouted once more. "I didn't really get an answer on the forging. I know last time didn't go so good, but this time there'll be no county jails, I swear! Probably."

"Like that!" Mabel grinned. "See, you don't remember how cold the county jail was."

"Okay... but if I really have forgotten the whole summer, what am I gonna say to Great Uncle Stan?"

"Just play it cool, bro bro. We'll have your memories back in no time, there's no reason to make him worried!"

"Still waiting for an answer, kids! I'll just, take that silence as a yes? Start cutting out rectangles, you know, for all the money we're going to forge?"

Dipper frowned. "Should we call the police? Or our parents?"

"Whaaat? No way, it'll be fun. Coming, Grunkle Stan!"

"But he's literally forging-"

Mabel shoved a finger up to her brother's lips. "Shhh shhh, I said play it cool."

"Literally forging money-"

"Play it cool."

"That's a felony-"

"Shh, I said play it cool."

"Okay, fine." Dipper crossed his arms. "I guess we'll play it cool and... go forge money with our Great Uncle Stan. Am I saying this right?"

Mabel stashed the journal back underneath Dipper's bed "No you're not. It's Grunkle Stan, not Great Uncle Stan. That just sounds weird!"


	3. Chapter 3

Five minutes later, the twins were downstairs painting money with their Grunkle Stan over an episode of Ducktective. Every so often their Grunkle looked up and grinned at the two of them, which Mabel could tell her brother found unsettling. It was obvious he hadn't quite gotten the hang of his creepy old man charm... or the smell, probably the smell.

"See, I promised you two knuckleheads it'd be fun this time." He leaned over his niece's shoulder. "Mabel sweetie, your Benjamin Franklin looks like a woman. I'll have to bring smoke bombs when I hand those puppies in."

"I'm not painting him, I'm painting Harriet Tubman!"

"Oh, I see. Carry on. What about you, Dipper?"

Dipper scowled at the television. "Oh, I'm doing fine. Just, committing fraud, as you do."

"Yours hardly count as fraud, kid; they don't even look like bills! What are these presidents, lizard people?"

"I, um, messed up on that one." Dipper blushed and picked up a smaller brush. "So, Stan, Grunkle Stan, what day is it today?"

"July the twelfth." Stan answered immediately.

Dipper blinked, looking over at Mabel's desperate 'cut it out' hand motions. "Wow, okay. Are you sure?"

"Course I'm sure. It's two weeks until the Ductective season finale, remember?"

Before he could answer, Mabel butted in. "Of course he remembers! It's not like he got his memory wiped by a society of mind wipers or anything. That would be silly and totally breaking our promise, haha, hahaha... right? Is-is no one laughing, because that was clearly funny."

Stan raised an eyebrow. "Dipper got his mind wiped?"

"He'll be fine. Look, Dipper, what's the capital of Bolivia?"

"Mabel, since when have I known that?"

"Since when have you not known that? It's just something smart people know!" Mabel pushed herself off the chair, backing away and grabbing her brother. "Anyway, we're kinda tired. Big day tomorrow, you know? Goodnight!"

"Right. Goodnight, kids!" Stan frowned after them, stroking his chin. He switched off Ducktective and headed into the gift shop, out of sight.

Meanwhile Dipper was being dragged back to the attic, protesting the whole way. "What was that all about! I was just finishing up a really good forgery- okay, let me rephrase that. Why are we lying to our Great Uncle Stan again?"

"Because we're gonna get your memories back really soon!" Mabel said as she opened the bedroom door. "Like, tomorrow. Wendy and Soos are gonna come over and help with that!"

"Who are Wendy and Soos?"

"Who are Wendy and Soos? You're asking me to explain the two coolest people in the world to you?" She flopped down on her bed, spreading her arms wide. "Mere sentences cannot answer the question, 'Who are Wendy and Soos!"

Dipper's eyebrows drooped. "Cut it out with the theatrics, Mabel. I'm still not entirely sure this isn't some elaborate joke, what with all the supernatural stuff you keep throwing in, and how Ductective went from some light kids show to him getting shot-"

"Haha, I know!" Mabel giggled, which earned a smile from her brother. "This summer's been crazy."

"-Not to mention how different you're acting, Mabel."

She sat up. "Wait, what?"

"Uhhh..." Dipper's smile vanished, and he quickly tried to backpedal. "That came out wrong! Can I get a retake on that? Do those exist here?"

"No, no, you said I was acting different. Different how?"

Seeing there was no way out of this, he sighed and sat down on his bed. "I dunno, like, you're actually lying. Not very well, sure, but you're the girl who used to say lying was always wrong, no matter what. Is there something we're supposed to be lying about?"

"Whaaat?" Mabel looked off to the side, playing with her hair. "So I lie a little now, but it's for the greater good, Dipper! Anyway, I've been living Grunkle Stan for the whole summer, and you saw what he's like!"

Dipper opened his mouth, closed it, and opened it again. "Yeah, it's nothing, Mabel. Don't worry about it. It was just something I noticed." He looked at his sister's somewhat troubled expression, then crossed the room to sit by her and pulled up her pink scrapbook. "Hey, uh, do you have any pictures of this Soos and Wendy?"

Brightening almost instantly, Mabel flipped to the first page. "Do I! Look, there's Soos on the very first day we came to Gravity Falls! He had some Mystery stains on his shirt when I took that, so I covered it up with glitter!"

Dipper rolled his eyes. "I'm going to regret asking this, aren't I."

"No way out of it now, bro bro!" She playfully wrapped her arm around his neck, drawing him closer. "That's Wendy. In this picture she's standing by the cashier, but most of the time she's up on the roof. Or up a tree. Fun fact, I think she saw you do the Lamby Lamby dance!"

"What?"

"Or she watched you beat up a bunch of ghosts, I'm not really sure. I think I was either possessed or hallucinating at the time. Or both, that's possible."

Dipper raised an eyebrow. "But- you know what, I'm not even gonna question it. I can't wait to meet them tomorrow."


	4. Chapter 4

Dipper said goodnight to Mabel and slept in his own bed. When Mabel woke up, however, her brother was nowhere to be seen.

"Morning, Dipper..." Mabel stretched and smiled at the opposite bed... only to find it empty. She sat up. "Dipper?"

Dead silence. Somewhat worried now, she jumped out of bed and quickly dressed, hurrying downstairs. "Dipper, where are you?"

"Mabel?" Dipper emerged out from behind the TV, fully clothed, rubbing his forehead. "Is waking up in weird places normal here? Or having weird dreams?"

"Sometimes I have weird dreams when I eat raw sugar packets."

"Aww, gross, Mabel!"

"Anyway, Wendy and Soos are gonna be here soon. Come on!" She grabbed her brother's arm and pulled him through the kitchen, making for the door. Before they could go out, there was a call from behind them.

"Hey, kids!" Stan waved a bottle of pancake mix at them. "You two knuckleheads up for Stancakes?"

Mabel's eyes widened. "Stancakes? Ooohhh... aw, I can't. Sorry Grunkle Stan, we're in a hurry! We're meeting Wendy and Soos, because... uh, we're going shoplifting?"

Dipper slapped his forehead.

"Taking after your old man, are you? Heh..." The old man gave them a concerned look. "You keep safe, okay? If anything happened to you kids... What are you looking at me like that for?"

"Aww, Grunkle Stan!"

"What? Your folks'd kill me!" He grumbled, tearing open the pancake mix. "Didn't you two say you had somewhere to be? I'll be eating all these pancakes by myself; no better way to spend a Friday morning."

The twins didn't need to be told twice. They dashed out to the front of the Mystery Shack, where a white van was waiting. Wendy stuck her head out and waved.

"Hey, Mabel, Dipper! Thanks for the ride, Thompson." She hopped out, and the van sped away. "So, um, Dipper. Do you... remember me?"

Dipper shook his head. "I'm sorry. Mabel told me all about you and Soos last night but... I don't remember anything."

Her face fell, but she put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, dude, no need to be sorry. It's not your fault." She looked around. "Where's Soos?"

At that moment a truck pulled up, and the handyman stuck his head out. "Did somebody say, chip flavoured crackers?"

Everybody shook their heads.

"Oh. Well, I bought some chip flavoured crackers on the way here. Do you want some, dudes?"

"Yes please!" Mabel ran over to Soos, leaving Wendy and Dipper momentarily alone.

Wendy cleared her throat. "So, what are we doing today?"

"Mabel said she wanted to show me the forest. Apparently it's full of some supernatural creatures or whatever; I'll believe it when I see it."

He looked up was Wendy snorted. "What?"

"Sorry, man. I just can't believe you're saying you don't believe in the supernatural. That was like, your thing."

"It was?"

"Yeah! You had your journal, and you were looking for this Author guy. We went on all these adventures; pretty awesome stuff." She looked down at him, her smile dropping into a more somber expression. "You really don't remember anything, do you?"

"Nothing. It's... really weird. One day I fell asleep on the bus to Gravity Falls, then something happened and... I woke up yesterday. I don't remember you or Stan or-" He pointed to the handyman, who was walking towards them. "That guy. Soos, right?"

"You got it, dude." Soos knitted his hands together. "So you don't remember me at all?"

"Nothing." Dipper said, and Soos' shoulders sagged.

Mabel looked back and forth between the two, then put a hand on both of their shoulders. "Hey, don't worry! We'll get Dipper's memories back in no time! Maybe if we tried showing you all the stuff you forgot?"

"Like with FCLORPing?" Soos asked, which earned him confused stares from the other three. "Foam and Cardboard Legitimate Outdoor Role Playing. You dudes ever heard of it?"

Dipper's eyes drooped. "Uh, no. Not happening."

"Hey, it's not a bad idea." Wendy countered. "I'm just not so sure how we'd recreate some of the amazing monsters that we saw this summer. Like the shapeshifter, or the ghost..."

"I see your point... so it's a Plan B?"

Mabel nodded. "Sure! But what I was thinking was that we go into the forest and find some magical stuff that'd convince Dipper here that all the weirdness in Gravity Falls is true! Then he might remember better."

"That shouldn't be too hard; I see weird stuff pretty every day I head into work." Wendy looked out at the forest. "We could literally just go walk in the woods."

"You guys are... you're really serious about this, aren't you?" Dipper's eyes widened. "There's actual supernatural creatures, just out there in the forest?"

"You bet your life there are, dawg."

"This is what I've been telling you this whole time, bro bro!"

"I know, I know! I just half thought that you were joking and now...Wow, I really did lose my memory, didn't I? I used to know who you people are, but now..."

"Yep, pretty much. But don't worry, man," Wendy offered a hand. "We'll get it back, okay?"

Dipper stared at the hand for a second, before smiling up at her and and taking it. "Okay. Thanks..."

"Wendy."

"Thanks, Wendy."


	5. Chapter 5

As expected, it didn't take that long to find one of the supernatural creatures hanging around Gravity Falls. They were everywhere; all you needed was a good eye to spot them with.

"Look, Dipper! A gnome!" Mabel pointed at a grey-bearded figure hiding in the bushes.

"Shmebulock."

"Is that a real gnome?" Dipper stared at the gnome as it ducked out of sight. "Wow. Didn't you say we had an adventure with those guys once?"

"More than that. I dated him once... or, him and six other gnomes. It's complicated."

Soos looked up. "Superman! Oh, no, no, that's just a plane, dudes. Or is it a bird?"

"We should have brought that journal, man." Wendy sliced some overhanging branches in front of her head with her axe. "Do we have it?"

"No, I didn't think of that! I left it under Dipper's bed."

Dipper frowned. "Do we need it?"

"Eh, probably not. We're just walking in the forest, what could go wrong?"

"Dude, don't say that!" Soos shook his head. "That's what people always say before something goes wrong."

"Pssh, that only happens in stuff like movies or books or-" That was when a white rectangular room opened in front of them and they all walked through. "Or... not. Where are we?"

"Dudes, did we break the fourth wall?" Soos watched as the environment behind them disappeared. He knocked on the wall, frowning. "Metal. I think this is some sort of cage."

Dipper looked around him, slowly beginning to panic. "Seriously, where are we? What happened to the forest?"

"I dunno, bro bro, but maybe these ominous tall soldier guys can tell us!" Mabel walked up to two people in green and grey uniforms. "Hi, Mabel here. Can I ask you a question; where the heck are we?!"

One of the men cleared his throat. "Dipper and Mabel Pines of the twenty first century, you're being detained by order of Time Baby."

"Detained?" Mabel frowned.

"Time Baby?" Dipper backed away. "What's happening? Why are you detaining us?"

"Oh, I think you know why." Beside the soldiers there was a flash of light, and a bald man in a jumpsuit appeared. "Don't you-you remember me?"

"No..." Dipper shook his head. "Sorry man, but I've kind of lost my memory, and-"

"Don't worry, bro bro. I have no idea who he is either."

"Or me!"

"It's Blendin Blenjamin Blandin! Don't you remember me?" She man looked over to Wendy and Soos. "Well, you-you guys have never met me, so that's probably why. Why did we-we-we capture those two again?"

One of the soldiers shrugged. "They were next to the targets."

"Oh. But it doesn't matter!" He pointed at Mabel and Dipper. "You two don't even remember the-the person whose life, you ruined? I went to Time Prison because of you, I-I was stripped of my position all because you wanted to go back and win that pig! Ever since then I've been planning my vengeance, and now the day has finally arrived!"

"Whoa," Dipper backed up. "Vengance? Are you gonna kill us?"

Blendin grinned. "Even better. Prepare, for, _Globnar_!"

One side of the white cage opened to reveal a barred window into some sort of gladiator arena. People clashed in all sorts of bizarre situations to the sound of wild audience applause.

Wendy blinked. "Uh, are we doing this?"

"Oh, look, an eating contest!" Mabel pointed. "I could do that."

"And laser tag! Dudes, I am so on that."

"This doesn't seem so bad." She grinned. "We have superior numbers, and superior hair! We could totally beat this Blendin guy, and it could even be fun! Right, Dipper?"

She looked over to her brother, who had gone white as a sheet. His knuckles gripped the bars hard, and his knees were wobbling wildly. "Dipper?"

"What? Oh, I'm, uh, I'm fine." He gulped. "Gladiator death fight. Totally fine with this."

Mabel frowned in concern, and looked over to the soldiers. She took note of their Time Tapes clipped onto their waists. "Hold on, Dipper. Mabel has a plan to get us out of here."

"You do?"

"Yep! It's- oh no, I forgot. Wait, I've got it again! Everyone gather round, this is a team effort..."

Five minutes later, the three Time Police were confronted with the sight of Mabel walking up to them, grinning innocently.

"Oh, it's you." Blendin frowned, dabbing some green paint on his face. "Do you mind? I-I'm getting ready for Globnar, you know, when I wish you were never born."

"About that! I just wanted to tell you, may the best man win." She extended a hand, which Blendin looked at suspiciously before reaching out-

"In the form of a stand up comedy routine with my dear brother Dipper!" Her hand shot out to the side and pulled Dipper over, who stood ramrod straight next to her, sweating nervously. "Don't mind him, he has a bit of a sweating problem."

"Mabel!"

"Stand up... comedy?" One soldier looked to the other. "Is this some sort of past thing, like slap bracelets?"

"You like slap bracelets?" Mabel pointed at the baffled soldier, trying not to draw attention to the redheaded girl standing right behind him with the blunt end of an axe. "Well, lemme tell you about slap bracelets! I used to be obsessed with slap bracelets; I still am, actually. One time, I put a million slap bracelets on my arms for this school photo!"

Dipper rolled his eyes. "I remember that day. Isn't this supposed to be comedy-"

"And you wanna know what happens when you wear a million slap bracelets for an entire day? This guy wants to know!"

"Me?"

"Yeah you... Lolph! Well, about an hour after I put them all on, my arms started to feel all numb. You know, that feeling when your leg falls asleep? Dipper here told me I should take them all off, so did. One slap bracelet off, two slap bracelets off - hey, my arm feels kind of funny - thee, slap bracelets off... and suddenly I have the worst attack of pins and needles ever! So I started running around the playground, screaming, 'Fire, fire! My arms are on fire!"

Soos started laughing from behind one of the men. "This guy knows what I'm talking about!"

The soldiers turned in surprise just in time to get knocked out by Soos and Wendy. They dropped to the floor before they even knew what had happened.

"Boosh!" Wendy reached down and grabbed a Time Tape. "Let's get out of here!"

"Wha-?" Blendin jumped away, hands pressed to his temples. "Oh no, this is bad! I've gotta, I've gotta, I've gotta, I've gotta..."

Dipper frowned. "What were you guys waiting so long for?"

"We wanted to hear her story, dawg. Mabel's stories are worth fighting in a time arena for. Especially the funny ones."

"Nevermind, we gotta go!" Dipper took the Tape. "Uh, how do you make this work?"

"Like this! Bwap!"

"gotta, I've gotta... Hey, stop!" Blendin dived for the group as they disappeared, falling on his face. He straightened himself up, looking at the remaining Time Tape. "I won't let them get away! Not again!"

Meanwhile, the four arrived safely in the forest... in the dead of night.

"Whoops!" Mabel said. "I think I missed the present by a few days."

"Hot Belgian Waffles!" They all turned as one to see Stan sitting and staring at them, his eyes wide in shock. Behind him was Dipper kneeling with his eyes closed, surrounded by a circle of candles. Soos, Mabel and Wendy had their hands on his forehead, also seeming to be unconscious.

Dipper raised an eyebrow. "Okay, this is weird. What the heck is going on here?"

Stan opened his mouth to reply, but before he could there was a flash of light. Blendin appeared and dived for the kids.

"You get back here! I-I will fight you in Globnar!"

"Whoa!" Mabel pulled her brother out of the way, then pulled the tape back just a little bit. "This should do it! Quick!"

They appeared in the same place, only this time it was light out.

"Feels good to be in the present again." Soos frowned. "Wait, won't that timey person come after us again?"

"Yes he will!" Blendin grabbed Dipper by the shoulder. "I haven't spent all that time in prison just to have you, run away!"

"Hey, leave him alone!" Wendy shoved him away from Dipper, and his Time Tape dropped on the ground. She crushed it underfoot. "Quick guys, let's run away!"

Mabel pulled the tape out once more and they were off. They appeared in the forest in evening now, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief at having lost Blendin.

"But wait, we did leave him in the present." Mabel frowned. "So I guess we should go back and-"

" _Gnomes of the forest, unite_!" Everyone jumped at a cry from somewhere deep in the forest. Dipper frowned.

"What was that?"

"Oh, we must have travelled to when these gnomes tried to make me their queen! I remember that..." Mabel trailed off, her eyes widening.

"Mabel?" Dipper was caught off guard when his sister squealed and gripped him by the shoulders. "Whoa, Mabel, what's going on?"

"I know how to get your memories back, Dipper! We don't have to act them out, we can show you!"

"Whoa," Wendy frowned. "What if they see us? Wouldn't that alter the past?"

"We won't be seen! Trust me, I'm a master at stealth." Mabel turned and around and immediately stepped on a twig, which cracked loudly. "Nothing will go wrong."

The three followed Mabel down the forest path, where they huddled in the bushes and watched as a giant gnome monster bear down on a crashed golf cart.

Dipper's eyes widened as he saw Mabel step forward. "Uh, are we okay?"

"You don't remember what happens next?"

Dipper shook his head. "Oh, you've got this leaf blower. And we're, oh, we shot Jeff at the gnomes, I get it."

"Wow, they're going everythere," Soos marvelled just as a gnome came flying onto his face. "Aah! The past is attacking me!"

"So you really don't remember anything of that?" Mabel watched as past-Dipper and Mabel hugged. "We're literally watching it happen, Dipper!"

"I'm sorry, I don't remember anything!"

"Then... we'll try some other adventure. That has to work!" Mabel pulled out the time tape, and they disappeared. "Look, I think this is where Gideon took over the Shack. That was a strong memory!"

Dipper looked blankly over a gated Mystery Shack, the very top torn off with a wrecking ball.

Soos shuddered. "Oh, that was a bad day."

"Come on, Dipper! Or what about the zombies? You've gotta remember something!" They travelled to a Mystery Shack overrun with zombies tearing their ears out over a karaoke rendition of 'Taking Over Midnight'.

"Mabel, I don't remember anything! I mean, I know what you told me, but not like I was there. It's not working... hey, are you crying?"

He stared at Mabel, who sniffed and rubbed her eyes. "You're not ever going to remember, are you?"

"Okay," Wendy gently took the tape from Mabel's hands. "Let's go back to the present, okay? And then we can figure something out."

They arrived back at the present, where they could see Grunkle Stan finishing up a platter of pancakes in the window. Mabel didn't say anything; she sat there, crying silently as Wendy and Dipper put their arms around her.

Finally, she spoke.

"We need to tell Grunkle Stan." Mabel said. "We need to tell him Dipper's never gonna get his memory back. And I lied to him."

"Hey," Wendy kneeled down in front of Mabel. "We could find some other ways of getting his memory back?"

"Like FCLORPING?" He shrank back under Dipper and Wendy's withering glares. "Okay, wrong moment, I get it."

"We could try... we could try..." Mabel trailed off. "I don't know. We showed Dipper his actual memories, and he didn't remember. Why didn't it work?"

Dipper shrugged helplessly. "I don't know either, Mabel. I'm sorry I can't remember, but... maybe it's not all bad? Uh, I already have some great summer memories of... forging money with Grunkle Stan, and meeting that yellow triangle and... you doing stand up comedy to Time Travel police! That last one was pretty good..." He blinked. "Why are you all staring at me? Okay, I know that was bad, but Mabel's usually the optimistic one here."

"No, you said yellow triangle," Mabel said carefully, wiping away her tears.

"Yellow triangle- oh, yeah, sorry, that was my dream. Didn't, um, actually happen-"

"Bill? Bill Cipher?"

"...Yeah. How'd you know?"

"Who's Bill?" Wendy frowned.

"Bill's this evil triangle who makes bad deals. Dipper made a deal with him once and possessed him!"

Dipper blinked. "Then, uh, should I be worried?"

"You made a deal?"

"I just thought it was some weird dream! I didn't know he was real!"

"What did you say, dude?"

"I don't remember everything... something like 'let me into your mind and I'll give you your memories back. But I didn't get them back, so I never mentioned it to you."

Wendy crossed her arms. "So, what does this mean?"

"I dunno!" Mabel said. "Dipper was the paranormal expert. All I know is last time he was trying to destroy the Journal... which I left under Dipper's bed..."

"Check the journal?"

"Check the journal, now."


End file.
